Bronze Age Gold from Wales

¾ port bow view of 4-masted barque PASSAT, sails furled, discharging 56,000 bags of wheat at Barry before joining the PAMIR at Penarth in October 1949. that year. Tugs and sand dredger also in image.

The 3,091 gross ton barque Passat was built in Hamburg in 1911 for F. Laeisz's 'Flying "P" Line' of nitrate traders. Together with her elder sister Pamir she was sold to Gustav Erikson in 1932, and in 1949 they were the last sailing ships to carry grain from Australia, the Passat discharging 56,000 bags of wheat at Barry before joining Pamir at Penarth in October that year. They lay there until 1951. The Pamir was lost at sea in 1957 whilst in service as a German sail-training vessel, but the Passat survives at Travemunde in Germany. (Source: Shipping at Cardiff: Photographs from the Hansen Collection 1920-1975 by David Jenkins, 1993).

Barque PASSAT (3,091 gross ton). Built 1911 by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg, for Reederei F. Laeisz, Hamburg (the Flying “P” Line). Rigged as a 4-masted barque with royals over double top and topgallant sails – she worked on the nitrate trade from South America. In 1916 she was laid up at Iquique for the duration of WW1. In 1921 transferred to the French Government as war reparations, but bought back in the December of that year by F. Laeisz. 1932 – Together with her elder sister Pamir she was sold to Gustav Erikson of Mariehamn, Finland. She was laid up at Mariehamn for the duration of WW2. 1946 – Loaded deals and passengers for East London, South Africa arriving at Table Bay 82 days later. 1949 – The PAMIR and PASSAT were the last sailing ships to carry grain from Australia. 1950 – Sold together with PAMIR to Van der Loo of Antwerp for scrapping. 1951 – Sold to H. Schliewen, Lübeck, to be used as a sail-training ship. 1954 – Sold at auction to Schleswig-Holsteinisches Lanesbank. 1956 – Sold to Stiftung Pamir und Passat, Lubeck. 1957 – She found refuge at Lisbon during the hurricane in which the PAMIR perished, and was laid up at Hamburg. 1960 – Established as a stationary school ship at Travemünde, where she is currently (2012) preserved as a museum ship.